SAKAIMINATO CRUISE PORT, JAPAN: 5 BEST THINGS TO DO HERE, INC. A BRAND NEW CYCLE LANE & ANIME!

During a cruise around Japan with Princess Cruises on Diamond Princess cruise ship we docked for a day at the little known cruise port of Sakaiminato on Japan's west coast. This video shows the 5 best things to do here, which includes cycling down a brand new 10-mile cycle lane and visiting a street dedicated to famous anime characters. The cycle path starts really near where the cruise ship docks. You can visit the tower near the ship before you start cycling. It's officially Japan's shortest tower! It also has great views of the ship. You can hire your bike at the port and then start cycling down this lovely bucolic 10 mile (15km) cycle path. Mostly the cycle lane tracks a white sand beach and coastline with the volcano Mt Daisen looming in the distance. We spy herons. Eventually the path veers inland and crosses over a bridge before heading into a forest. The cycle lane ends in the town of Kaike where there is a public foot onsen. This onsen (hot spring) is great for dunking in your feet and I thoroughly recommend it. Also nice is Kaike beach - there are no other tourists there and it's a really nice beach. Afterwards head back downtown and grab a table at Katsukimari Restaurant and order the local specialty of Teppei Kaisendon - It's sashimi and a whole crab on top of rice and it is absolutely DELICOUS! the best sashimi I have ever had actually. Lastly head to Mizuki Shigeru Street which is very near the restaurant - it's named after a famous manga artist and small effigies of his anime characters line the street. There are lots of cool shops here too. All in all this is a lovely, rural, undiscovered region and a really great cruise port to stop in if you make the best of it. Definitely go cycling down this cycle lane. There wasn't another tourist in sight!